Abstract

Book synopsis: A Cultural History of Sexuality presents an overarching survey from ancient times to the present. With six volumes covering 2800 years, this is the most authoritative history of sexuality in all its many forms across Western cultures.
Volume 1: A Cultural History of Sexuality in the Classical World Edited by Mark Golden, University of Winnipeg, and Peter Toohey, University of Calgary
Volume 2: A Cultural History of Sexuality in the Middle Ages Edited by Ruth Evans, Saint Louis University
Volume 3: A Cultural History of Sexuality in the Renaissance Edited by Bette Talvacchia, University of Connecticut
Volume 4: A Cultural History of Sexuality in the Enlightenment Edited by Julie Peakman, Birkbeck College, University of London
Volume 5: Sexuality in the Age of Empire Edited by Chiara Beccalossi, University of Queensland, Australia, and Ivan Crozier, University of Edinburgh
Volume 6: A Cultural History of Sexuality in the Modern Age Gert Hekma, University of Amsterdam Each volume discusses the same themes in its chapters:
1. Heterosexuality;
2. Homosexuality;
3. Sexual Variations;
4. Sex Religion, and the Law;
5. Sex, Medicine and Disease;
6. Sex, Popular Beliefs and Culture;
7. Prostitution;
8. Erotica.
This means readers can either have a broad overview of a period by reading a volume or follow a theme through history by reading the relevant chapter in each volume.